Target Closing 12 Stores Across the US

Target is reportedly closing a dozen “underperforming” stores across the country due to their “decreasing profitability.”

According to the Star Tribune, Target spokeswoman Kristy Welker said, “It’s not a decision we make lightly.”

Welker noted that the company has “a rigorous process in place to evaluate the performance of every store on an annual basis, closing or relocating underperforming locations as needed,” CNBC reported.

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“Typically, a store is closed as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability,” Welker said.

On Monday, Target began notifying employees at the 12 affected stores which are located in Michigan, Minnesota, Kansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Illinois, Florida, Maryland and Texas.

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The stores will reportedly close on Feb. 3, 2018, following the holiday shopping season.

Target said that they are attempting to refine their portfolio of stores by closing a few unprofitable locations each year while expanding with new ones that provide a better financial outlook, USA Today reported.

By the end of the year, Target expects to have opened 32 new stores in 2017 and created 2,000 new jobs.

Target continues to face pressure from online retailers such as Amazon, forcing the company to closely watch costs and devise creative strategies to attract customers.

The company still remains the focus of a successful boycott effort initiated by the American Family Association, after the company’s April 2016 policy change that welcomed “transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.

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“Inclusivity is a core belief at Target,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the policy. “Everyone deserves to feel like they belong. And you’ll always be accepted, respected and welcomed at Target.”

Nearly a year later, it was revealed in a report by The Wall Street Journal that Target CEO Brian Cornell said he never approved the post and found out about it after it was published.

Cornell also said that the ensuing backlash regarding the policy change was “self inflicted.”

The boycott cost Target millions in lost sales and added expenses.

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“Shopper traffic and same-store sales started sliding for the first time in years after the blog post, and the company was forced to spend $20 million installing single-occupancy bathrooms in all its stores to give critics of the policy more privacy,” Yahoo News reported in April.

Target’s sales declined nearly six percent in the three quarters following the policy change, compared with the same period during the prior year. As of April, same-store sales had dropped every quarter since the announcement.